About 1:30 A. M. on the 29th I received a call on Pine St. that a prowler was in the garage at that location. While enroute I was further notified that he was armed with a knife. Upon arrival I located the resident and a very intoxicated gentleman. Apparently the prowler had awakened the resident and when confronted had handed him a knife he was holding. The subject was barely coherent and had apparently been injured as he had some small cuts on his side but could not tell us what had happened. An ambulance was ordered and when they arrived we moved the subject to their unit for examination. When we tried to get the subject into the ambulance he turned and struck the EMT in the face. I and Deputy Ehlers from the Benton County Sheriff's Department, who had also responded to the call, subdued the subject. We then tried to place him in a Patrol Vehicle but he became more violent and assaulted me by kicking me, trying to knock me down. At that time we restrained him again and this time placed him on the ambulance gurney, strapped him down and transported the subject to the Benton County Jail for booking.  No one was injured during the event and I was very appreciative that Deputy Ehlers made the call as I would have had my hands full without his assistance.

On Saturday Officer Ehlers was watching "U" Highway for a stolen auto that was reported coming towards Cole Camp. There, he observed two suspects from a theft which had occurred earlier south of town. He stopped their vehicle and both were arrested for stealing and other charges including possession of a controlled substance.

Beyond these events we have had a routine week. Loose dogs are still a problem and the Department is writing more citations. The new ordinances should be passed at the upcoming council meeting and will give us more tools to resolve this problem.

Finally, The Officers of The Cole Camp Police Department wish everyone a happy and peaceful New Year.

Two items that I always have a problem with are racial profiling reports and deaths in custody. Every stop any police officer makes is recorded and documented for these reports. Race, sex, age, and other demographics are then recorded and sent to the government for study. This data is then compared against census data to see if the local agency is targeting certain groups. In our case twice since I have been Chief we have stopped two groups out of balance with their local makeup. In one case we stopped one person for a traffic violation when the county census showed zero and the other we stopped two when we should have only stopped one. In all cases these were traffic violations which occurred at night. There was no way for the officer to identify the drivers until after they were stopped. The Federal recommendations are that I review these stops and counsel the officers on their sensitivity. This is in addition to their training in this area which is required annually. Can you imagine the expense and problems created by this law in large agencies?  

Officer Ward was busy this week. He made two arrests for driving while intoxicated, handled a Destruction of Property call along with the county at the Casey's General Store, made an arrest for assault which occurred earlier in his shift east of town and responded to the Fire Call at Booneville and Junge streets Sunday morning.  We handled a disturbance call on Butterfield Trail that resulted on one citation being issued, and a call on dogs at large on Junge Street that also resulted in a citation.

Finally,  MoDot has painted a cross walk at the intersection of Grother and Main. This is primarily to assist those from the retirement village crossing to and from the nursing home. However our request for a light to assist the Fire Department and "F" and 52 highways has been denied. A reminder to anyone who wishes to learn more about the CERT team for Cole Camp. We will have a meeting at City Hall on Saturday. Call the Police Department for more info at (660) 668-2321.

I have reported several times in the past about the problems with dogs at large. This week we had an incident where vicious dogs had neighbors pinned in their houses. On Friday morning as I tried to help a lady get to her car I was charged by two of these animals and was forced to shoot. As you can imagine no good comes from these incidents. The dog owner not only loses their animal but end up in court with criminal charges. The neighbors are unhappy because of the threat posed by the animals and the disruption caused by these incidents. And of course the Police never like to discharge a firearm especially in a congested area. These situations could be easily resolved by dog owners who are responsible for controlling their animals and properly licensing them.

We also had a situation where a parent reported that an adult living in the city had given their 12 year old Marijuana. Officer Ward has recovered the substance and we are preparing charges. Further Officer Ward is reviewing statements in the case to see if witness intimidation charges will be brought against others.

Officer Crider and I have each responded to a Domestic situation on Jefferson. No charges have been filed in this situation.   The end of this tour was on Monday. It was cold and snowing. A local resident was cleaning off their vehicle in the driveway. The weather and other considerations made me think that it was not a good idea for them to drive. I stopped and asked where they were headed. The first response was that they were headed to the country. I knew the roads there were almost impassable and convinced them not to go. I then offered a ride and took them to get breakfast. The owner of the restaurant promised a ride home. An hour or so later I drove by the house and their vehicle was gone. I am guessing they made their trip as soon as I was out of the way. As they say "the best laid plans!"

As of this writing, much of the snow has been removed from city streets. This is an ongoing problem that I hope we can resolve in the near future. During this snow fall both city trucks had mechanical problems. They have now been repaired but we are looking at ways to improve this situation in the future. I would like to thank those that volunteered to remove snow around town as they did a great job before the City Crews got going.  

However the bad weather has kept our activity to a minimum. Only two accidents were reported on Saturday night one at Hickory and Main involving two cars and one at Main and Spring where one vehicle left the road and struck a concrete wall. Officer Ward made an arrest on Friday night of a person who was driving with stolen license plates. He was booked at the Benton County Jail with additional charges. I responded to the Cole Camp Inn with the ambulance on an injured person who had fallen on the ice. The owner was transported to Bothwell Hospital with an injury to his shoulder. He was treated and released.

The City Counsel meeting on Thursday saw the new Ordinance Book passed. These new laws will streamline enforcement and bring the City into compliance with Missouri Statutes. We now have as ordinance almost all traffic regulation that the State has. This allows our officers to write tickets for municipal court rather than State Court in Warsaw. It makes it much easier for our citizens to appear and resolve issues than in the past.  

Finally, during this slow part of the year we are scheduling training for The Department. Officer Ward will complete his course work to become an Accident Re-constructionist. He has shown a talent for these investigations and having him qualified in this area is a plus for our pursuit of professionalism. Officer Crider is scheduled for the advanced driver's course in Warrensburg. This training teaches how to handle a vehicle in emergency situations. He had previously attended these classes but it was many years ago and this time his vehicle will not be pulled by a horse.

We continually strive to improve our training and experience so that we may provide the best service to our city. I believe that for a Department our size that we have a highly trained staff with many years of law enforcement experience. By attending training sessions at advanced schools we broaden our knowledge base and network with other officers and other agencies which I believe is very important in professional growth.

Also on Friday we received a report of harassing phone calls which were occurring from a local address. We are still reviewing this case to see if charges will be filed. As I reported last week the Council had adopted the new City Ordinance's. We submitted a question for approval on the April Ballot to update our liquor control laws and license fees to match State Law. The Ordinance has been approved but because of the way we had previously voted on the license fess it was felt that a new vote would bring us into compliance with current law and not require additional ballot approval in the future.

Finally, we have responded to several motorist assists this week. Because of the cold weather folks are locking themselves out of their cars more often. It is always a good idea to have a spare set of car keys available as some of the newer cars are difficult for us to gain entry and we cannot open cars with side airbags. As one lady told me when I asked if there was a spare set of keys. She said, "Yes there in my purse," and yes her purse was locked in the car.